South St. Paul schools anticipating lawsuit over teacher sex-abuse allegations

A South St. Paul elementary school teacher, Aric Babbitt (shown), and his husband allegedly had sexual conduct with eight underage boys over several years, according to police documents released in late December. Authorities found a hidden camera on Aug. 14, 2016, while searching a South St. Paul home jointly owned by Babbitt and Matthew Deyo.

The South St. Paul school district says it has wrapped up its own investigation into sexual abuse allegations by former elementary teacher Aric Babbitt, but cannot release a report because it contains private personnel data as defined by state law.

Additionally, the investigative report and related documents are being retained in “anticipation of a pending civil legal action” and therefore are considered confidential and nonpublic data under the state’s government data practices statute, Superintendent Dave Webb wrote in a recent email to the Pioneer Press.

When asked Wednesday to elaborate, the school district’s attorney, Amy Mace, said in an email that a lawsuit has not been filed against the district. She did not return a call for additional comment.

Webb was out of town and unavailable for comment, according to the school district.

Babbitt, a teacher at Lincoln Center Elementary since 2002, was put on paid leave by South St. Paul schools after the district learned of the allegations Aug. 17. He was found dead eight days later in Washington state alongside his husband, Matthew Deyo; they died of a murder-suicide.

Data in the school district’s investigative report on Babbitt is private personnel data pursuant to state law at the time of his death and therefore became private data when he died, Webb said. Private data on decedents becomes public 10 years after death and when 30 years have elapsed from creation of the data, according to the state statute.

Other data collected during the investigation also constitutes private educational data and may constitute private personnel data on other employees, Webb said.

South St. Paul police completed their criminal investigation last week and released the case file to the Pioneer Press on Tuesday, detailing sexual contact and inappropriate conduct accusations against Babbitt, 40, and Deyo, 36, made by eight underage boys.

The investigation began Aug. 14 after a 16-year-old boy and his parents went to South St. Paul police to report “an ongoing sexual relationship” with Babbitt and Deyo. Neither man had been charged with a crime before their deaths.

Although police have said previously that they suspected additional victims, the number was not clear until the case file, which included a final report, was released.

In addition, the report included details about videos investigators found, including ones that show Babbitt filming himself masturbating in a Lincoln Center Elementary School bathroom and in his empty classroom, near a student’s desk.

Babbitt’s father, Dana Babbitt, was superintendent of the South St. Paul school district from 2003 to 2007 and previously was the principal at South St. Paul High School.